gHacks technology news » Mobiles

How To Make Free Calls From Your Computer With Google Voice

David Pierce — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:52:29 +0000

About three weeks ago, I finally got an invite for Google Voice, the new phone-managing service from Google that I’d been itching to try out since before it was even called Google Voice (back then, it was called GrandCentral, and I still wanted it really, really badly).

Google Voice has a ton of great features, and in a lot of ways fundamentally changes the way you’ll use your phone. A lot of things suddenly become easier with Google Voice – checking your voicemail, sending text messages, and more – and they’re all best dealt with through your computer.

But, as of now, Google Voice doesn’t inherently let you make calls from your computer. I mean, I’ve got a microphone and speakers on my computer, as well as a fast Internet connection – why shouldn’t I be able to make calls, ideally for free?

Well, as it turns out, I can – with a little legwork. Here’s how to set it up (I did this on a Mac, so PC directions might be slightly different – the same rules will apply, though).

Disclaimer: This is all assuming you’ve already got a Google Voice account. They’re sending out invites at lightning-speed, so if you don’t have one, go get on the list!

Download and Install Gizmo5 (create a free account, with no call credits – you won’t need them!).
Open Gizmo. In the “Home” tab of the application, click “Edit My Profile.”
In the tab that pops up, you’ll see, filled in, a number for “SIP number.” Copy that number (everything before the @ sign).
In Google Voice, click “Settings”, and then “Phones.”
Click “Add Another phone” and paste the SIP number from Gizmo (again, only what’s before the @ Sign) into the box.
Name the number “Gizmo” or whatever you want, and then Save it.

Now, to make calls:

Open Google Voice, and click “Call”
Enter the number you want to call
Make sure the Gizmo phone (whatever you called it) is selected as the “Phone to Ring”
Click “Connect”
You’ll get a pop-up from Gizmo, with your Google Voice number on the caller ID. Answer it!
Google Voice will automatically dial and connect the other person, and you’ll be chatting from your computer!

The whole process only takes about five minutes, and doesn’t cost a nickel. Because you’re using a SIP number, all the data is transmitted over your cable connection rather than your phone network. That means you’ll need fast Internet to really make this work, but also means it doesn’t cost a thing!

I’m not sure how long this will be around (I’m sure carriers won’t be fans), but for now it’s a fantastic solution for making calls directly from your computer.

Tags: cell-phone, Google, google voice, mac, mobile, Mobiles, phone, Windows

Microsoft Phone Data Manager

Martin — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:18:41 +0000

Microsoft published a beta of their newest product Microsoft Phone Data Manager which is tool to synchronize and backup data from a supported mobile phone. The contacts data can be synchronized with Windows Live Contacts while the media, the music, videos and pictures, can be saved in a local folder.

Microsoft Phone Data Manager is not a full blown backup solution like the software that comes from the mobile phone company directly which can backup data like sms, games or protocols. It is a beta product on the other hand that could see those features implemented in later versions.

The major advantage of using the Phone Data Manager is that it works with phones from different mobile phone manufacturers. That is handy for a family that possesses different phones but only one computer and basically everyone else who is using phones from different cell phone manufacturers.

The list of working mobiles include phones from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. About 30 mobiles in total are listed on that page that have been tested and are working with the Microsoft Phone Data Manager but there are also a few that are not working. Most cell phone owners will probably have to try and find it out for themselves if their mobile phone is not listed on that page.

Microsoft has posted a user guide on their website that walks the user through the process of installing and working with the Phone Data Manager.

It supports and can identify bluetooth and usb cable connections. While it lacks on features it could be a viable alternative for users with multiple phones from different manufacturers.

Tags: microsoft phone, microsoft software, mobile phone, Mobiles, motorola, Nokia, phone data manager, samsung, sony ericsson

Find A Cell Phone Number

Martin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:02:21 +0000

The first question that should be addresses is why would someone want to find a cell phone number? Finding means searching obviously and I can think of a few reasons why this might be useful. The first and foremost is to discover the identity of someone. If you only got a person’s cell phone number you might be inclined to find the name and other information before making a call.

This can be useful if someone called whose cell phone number is unknown. It can be also useful to check out old cell phone numbers that someone wrote down without adding a name to it, you know, those cell phone numbers that one gets in certain bars for example. Would be embarrassing to call without knowing the name of the person you are calling.

The biggest problem to find a cell phone number is the fact that they are not added in the phone registry which means one has to rely on online services to find the information. Many sites charge for access to their databases but some provide the information freely.

Now the easiest way to find out the information you are looking for is to enter the phone number into Google and hope that Google has a record of it. That method is uncomplicated and free.

It the cell phone number you are looking for is not in the results you might run into a few troubles. Most sites advertise their service as free but either redirect to a paid service or ask you to pay after revealing some of the information you are looking for.

Whitepages is offering a Reverse Phone Search which could probably be used to find cell phone numbers as well as does Yellowpages.

Everything else is does not seem worth the effort. I checked roughly 30 or so sites that promised a free look up only to find out that they did either sell membership directly or redirected you to membership sites.

Google is therefor your best choice to find a cell phone number followed by other search engines, the yellow- and whitepages plus social sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Tags: cell phone search, cell-phone, Find A Cell Phone Number, mobile search, Mobiles, reverse phone search

Nokia PC Suite 7

Martin — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:03:07 +0000

Nokia released a new version of their PC Suite about a month ago which is the central PC software to manage your Nokia mobile phone. The software application seems to grow in size with every release, the current version is Nokia PC Suite 7.0.7.0 with a size of 34 Megabytes.

Basic functions that Nokia PC Suite 7 provides are backing up important data of the mobile phone, synchronizing all kinds of data like contacts, emails and calendars and providing Internet access for the computer the mobile phone is connected to.

That is obviously not all. The PC Suite can check the availability of new firmwares for selected mobile phones and instantly download them to the computer. Besides that you get a file manager and administration of messages, contacts and multimedia files on the mobile phone.

It’s furthermore possible to install applications on the mobile phone. My personal opinion is that it looks like the new version of the Nokia PC Suite comes with improved performance, everything feels a tad faster and more responsive.

Tags: mobile phone, Mobiles, Nokia, nokia mobile phone, nokia pc suite, pc suite

Create Mobile Phone Wallpapers

Martin — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:33:34 +0000

I really cannot understand people who buy mobile phone ringtones, wallpapers and other stuff for their mobile phones. It’s very expensive in my opinion and the only advantage that users get over creating their own is that it is more comfortable.

It is however rather easy to create your own and it does not really take that long. Today I’m going to show you how you can easily create mobile phone wallpapers in no time at all.

The application that I’m going to use is called Weys. It provides a few default sizes for several mobile phones including a few Sony Ericcson, Nokia and Motorola phones but also an option to select a custom sized wallpaper.

If you select one of the mobile phones from the list the program window will change to that mobile phone and the display area is the area that will be captured as the wallpaper. The window can be moved around freely.

The custom window can be changed dynamically in size to fit the screen dimensions of mobile phones that are not available as templates.

The wallpapers can be saved in four different image formats including png, jpg, bmp and gif. Weys is offering a great way of creating a mobile phone wallpaper. It is missing an option to capture a larger screen area and reduce the size of it in proportion so that the screen would fit on the mobile phone.

Tags: mobile phone, mobile phone wallpapers, mobile wallpapers, Mobiles, wallpapers

Summerboard iPhone Themes

Martin — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:08:55 +0000

If you want to be different than the rest of the iPhone pack you could install Summerboard and one of the themes that make your iPhone stick out from the crowd. It is possible to download themes for Summerboard or even create one yourself, the article will concentrate on premade themes that can be downloaded.

Users have to use different version of Summerboard to install the application depending on their firmware. An alpha version for firmware 1.1.1 exists, users with an older version have to use the Installer.app. Detailed explanations are available on the homepage mentioned above.

Many Summerboard themes have been posted on the installer apps website. I have selected three nice looking themes from the list of available themes. Just explore the website to take a look at all available Summerboard iPhone themes.

Click on this source link to find out how to add the themes to your Iphone.

Tags: apple, iPhone, Mobiles, summerboard, themes

Realtime Youtube Video transcoding for mobiles

Martin — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:08:14 +0000

I have been praising emTube just a day ago which was an application for Symbian S60 mobile phones like the Nokia N73 and Nokia N95 that made it possible to browse Youtube with the mobile phone and download + view movies as well. No conversion was needed and the quality of the service was astonishingly good.

Several websites, like the Download Squad, have been reviewing a service called ByWiFi today that converted videos from Youtube and Metacafe into 3gp format, a format widely used by mobile phones so that everyone with a phone supporting the standard would be able to view those movies as well.

ByWiFi has some advantages and disadvantages compared to emTube. The advantage is that the converted files are normally smaller than the ones that you download with emTube and that Metacafe is supported as well. The disadvantage is that the video has to be converted first and that the wait time depends on the capacities of the ByWiFi server.

You do get a link and can reload that link from time to time to check if the video is already available which means that you do not have to be online all the time which would not be a problem if you are on a unlimited data plan.

I do prefer emTube because of its speed and independence from third party services except Youtube of course. Users without a Symbian S60 mobile phone on the other hand will probably like ByWiFi.

Tags: Mobiles, Nokia, symbian, youtube

Youtube for Symbian S60 Phones

Martin — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:47:00 +0000

When Apple released their iPhone they never forgot to mention that the iPhone was able to play Youtube videos. I think they mentioned it as a key feature and several television ads showed this feature as well. If you do not own a Apple iPhone but another mobile phone, mabye like the Nokia N73 (my phone) or Nokia N95, you will be delighted to hear that a Symbian S60 application brings Youtube to those phones.

It gets even better. The Nokia N95 has a special version of that application that uses the phones accelerometer to rotate the video on screen if you rotate the phone to change between portrait and landscape mode. The emTube applications makes it possible to play Youtube movies either from the local flash memory of the phone or by downloading / streaming videos to your phone instead.

Videos can be browsed on Youtube and several comfort settings, like configuring the number of search results or if you want to start the video manually or automatically, make emTube a wonderful application that looks really promising.

via Tech Yard

Tags: mobile phones, Mobiles, Nokia

Send SMS to your Girlfriend/Spouse for free with Google Calendar

Daniel Pataki — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 23:03:35 +0000

I have to admit, I’m not the cheapskate, I don’t try dodging costs and I don’t employ the technique described here, but it is a fairly easy way to get rid of SMS expenses once and for all. There are numerous ways to minimize mobile costs nowadays, I have a “family pack”, which means that if I buy more than one SIM card, I can call that card any time for free, it only costs about a flat $4 a month. Sadly, this doesn’t include SMS.

As we all know, Google Calendar has the option to send free SMS reminders of tasks. Now all you need is to set up a calendar for your significant other using your own phone as a reminder, and one for yourself, with his/her phone number. Set the default reminder to SMS, for 5 minutes before the event takes place

Now if you want to send her an SMS, just create an event, and write the text as the “What” text. Set the event about 10 minutes ahead to be safe, and save. Sadly only 60 characters will be shown in the SMS, but this is still enough for a quick message. You can create events 1 minute apart and have 3 events span a single SMS if you want. You will have a “reminder” sent to your partner, quickly and for free!

Tags: free, mobile phones, Mobiles, sms

Books in your mobile phone

Martin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:23:25 +0000

Reading books using a mobile phone is probably not the most pleasant way but it surely is better than sitting around doing nothing at all. Books in My Phone provide hundreds of books that can be downloaded and transferred to your mobile phone. The user can chose between two ways to transfer the books to his mobile phone.

He can either download the books to his computer and transfer them afterwards using the normal means of connecting his mobile phone to the computer or he can connect with his mobile to the Internet and download the books directly. The second option is probably only advisable if you have a free data contingent.

The books are optimized for mobile phones, some of the features are:

Adjustable font size settings. Make the letters bigger or smaller according to your personal preference.
Night-vision mode. Makes it easy to read in a dark room.
Chapter navigation. Navigate the book by chapter.
Pause & Auto-resume function. Automatically pauses and resumes to accommodate incoming calls.
Auto-bookmark. You never have to remember where you’re up to in the book.

I would say the books are mostly classic literature books from authors such as Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Joseph Conrad and Sir Walter Scott. All books are out of copyright in the United States which means it is perfectly legal to download those books to your mobile phone.

Two versions are always offered. The first offering a better reading experience but requires a modern phone while the other does work on older phones as well. I would try the first version and see if it is supported by the phone and only if it is not supported I would download and use the second version.

Read More:

Books in my phone

Tags: books, iPhone, mobile phones, Mobiles, Nokia

Five free apps that rock for your mobile phone

Martin — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 06:32:54 +0000

I got a new Nokia N73 with a USB cable recently and have been searching for games and applications that I could download without charge and install on my new mobile phone. I have never put much thought into this sector before mainly because of my laziness and an old phone that had no data cable.

The Internet has a lot of fake sites for mobile phones that promise free downloads but charge the user in the end anyway. It took a while to find excellent sites that live up to their promise. After finding several sites that offered free downloads for mobile phones I had to download applications and test them on my phone.

The major problem with applications for mobile phones is that they are most of the time not compatible with all mobile phones. You sometimes have a five or six versions of the same application and you have to download the correct one for your mobile phone.

Not everyone may agree with the selection that I made and I would love to hear about applications that you use.

Amaze – Free GPS Navigation

Flurry – Mobile Email and RSS

MobiChat – Use AIM, MSN and Yahoo on your phone

MobyExplorer – File Manager, FTP & FTPS client

Secret Codes – A mobile password safe (alternative is Mililock)

Tags: free mobile phone downloads, free nokia applications, Mobiles

Create your own mp3 ringtones

Martin — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:12:40 +0000

Most teens love ringtones, new ones, unique ones that none of their friends have. It almost seems like a race for the newest coolest ringtone which starts again with every passing day. One method to get the newest ringtones would be to buy them for horrendous prices – honestly I never understood why users would pay so much money for a 20 seconds song. A better (cheaper) way would be to create the ringtones on your own which ensures two things:

First, you do not have to pay for the ringtone. You probably have to pay for the CD instead or simply record the songs from internet radio instead. So, best case you pay nothing. Second, you are free to create the ringtone from any mp3 file you have on your pc and you are free to take any 20 or so seconds from that mp3 file which makes it unique. All you need is the freeware Audacity and a method to connect the mobile phone to your computer.

Here’s where Audacity comes in. Using the free, open source, cross-platform sound editor, we’ll trim your MP3 down to the exact 20 seconds you want and add any effects as well.

Download Audacity, install and fire it up.
Audacity can’t edit MP3’s out of the box, it needs what’s called the LAME compression library first. Download the lame_enc.dll file here and put it somewhere permanent on your hard drive.
From Audacity’s Edit menu, choose Preferences. On the File Formats tab, under “MP3 Export Setup,” hit the Find Library button and browse to the dll you just downloaded
Now the fun begins. Make a copy of your MP3 file and stow it in a temp folder somewhere other than where your music player will find it. Drag and drop it onto Audacity to open it. Using the Zoom and play buttons, find the 20 seconds of your song you want to be your ringtone. (It helps to zoom in so the time appears in 5 second increments.) Use the select tool to highlight the 20 second ring, and from the Edit menu, choose “Trim.” Now you’ve got your ringtone.
If you’re feeling bold and creative, browse around Audacity’s editing tools, especially the Effect menu. I like to add a “Fade In” effect to the first 7 seconds of my tone so that it doesn’t blast full-volume right away, if I’m in a quieter place and I’ve forgotten to silence the ringer.
When you’re done editing, from the File menu, choose “Export as MP3.” Save it as, say, ringtone.mp3.
Now, transfer the tone to your phone, either by corded or Bluetooth connection to your computer, or by emailing it to your phone’s address.
Once the file is on your phone, set it as your custom ringtone. How to do this will depend on your phone model; on Nokia phones running Symbian you can do it in the Profiles area. On my Sprint LG, it’s in the Settings area, under Sounds, Ringers.

source: lifehacker

Tags: audacity, create ringtones, mobile phone, Mobiles, mp3, ringtones

New customer cell phone tracking services introduced

Martin — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 13:57:07 +0000

It all started in Korea, the cellular carrier SK Telecom introduced in 2000 a service which translates to something like “find friends”. Today more than four million Koreans are using the service. I compiled a incomplete service list, here it is:

send periodically messages with your coordinates to family and friends.
automatically send a message to a friend if hes only one block away from you
automatically sends a message if a person is not at the correct place at a certain time. The recipient has the option to see the movements of the last five hours.
automatically sends a message to parents if children stray from their route from home to school.

See “Working late won´t work anymore from businessweek.com for more information.

Tags: cell phones, Mobiles, privacy, Security

gHacks technology news » Mobiles

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